Mozart’s experimental Fifth Violin Concerto intersperses lyrical operatic passages with the loud, tongue-in-cheek bursts of traditional Turkish music which have lent the concerto its ‘Turkish’ nickname. Conductor Herbert von Karajan said that when listening to the haunting beauty of Mahler’s Symphony No 5 ‘you forget that time has passed. A great performance of the Fifth is a transforming experience. The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath’.

Pre-concert performanceGuildhall Artists at the Barbican6–6.45pm, Barbican HallFree entryMozart Sonatas for Violin and Piano performed by Bartosz Woroch (violin) and Jean-Selim Abdelmoula (piano)